I kind of just want to rip off the songs:illinois riff on Dan Blakeslee. It’s concise, has very nice comparisons to musicians I was thinking of too (Jeff Buckley, in particular) and, well, it’s already written. I penalize my students for plagiarism, though, and doing the same here would just make me a jerk. Dan Blakeslee seems like no jerk; in fact, one of his albums is a recording of a live set performed at New Hampshire’s Laconia State Prison. He’s described as a “folk god” in local New England press, and after reading about him for awhile, you get the impression that he’s like a Homeric minstrel poet for the Robert Frost set. And he can fiddle. So, thanks for the borrow, songs:illinois.
Múm
For the uninitiated: Múm makes music that would emanate from Willy Wonka’s jewelry box. I can close my eyes and actually see their music. It looks like a found object sculpture, with various instruments, kitchen utensils, and all manner of gadgets (analog and digital) piled high and held together with catgut and twine. A marvelous contraption set in motion and song by dropping a large marble into a bright chrome cylinder soldered to the top. As the marble travels down the sculpture, in, out, and back in again, it triggers notes, chords, voices, tiny starched flags adorned with glitter and stars and fastened to thin gold poles, flickering in and out of view—an explosion of sparkles signaling each change of timbre and tone, beat and bell, melody and mood. In a word, or two, utterly fanciful. Múm is the music of the butterflies that tickle your heart when you’re in love. If this is the first Múm song you’ve ever heard, please don’t let it be your last…
Mobius Band: New MP3s, Album + Tour
Biirdie
Biirdie’s brings the heartache like a slow-approaching thunderstorm. They lace their lush Americana sound with bits and blips of modernity a la fellow Californians Grandaddy. However, the double threat of Kala Savage’s angelic vocals and Jared Flamm’s world-worn pipes really put them in a class of their own. Plus they also made my baby girl sway at breakfast this morning while eating her Cheerios. So that’s a double thumb’s-up if ever I heard one.
Plus, I just read that Kala is Fred and Ben Savage’s sister…FTW!
Jens Lekman
This, people, is the post I have been waiting for. It’s no secret that I love me some Swedes and even less of a secret that I adore what shall heretofore be referred to as “The Gothenburg Sound.” (see: El Perro Del Mar, Love is All, Jose Gonzalez, Detektivbyran…) Above all, though, I love me some Jens Lekman. In the world of “Lisa Likes” regulations, artists should be a little nuts, a little grounded, part innovative freak genius and part renegade throwback revisiter. Jens, for sure, is all of these things. It’s a rare day that the hype aligns with the music. Hype, meet music. Music, meet hype. You two shall surely be friends. On a personal note, Jens Lekman’s music feels connected with my recent personal history and I couldn’t be more happy–it’s wistful, charming, silly, sad, bombastic and, occasionally triumphant. We all need something to listen to for all of these moments. And I’m grateful to Mr. Lekman for making such sounds that match up with more than one of these moments at the same time. Just listen. And try to love. I really want you all to.
Cale Parks
Cale Parks — multi-instrumentalist for the band Aloha — released a solo album — Illuminated Manuscripts — about a year ago. It’s shimmery and delicate and quivery and pretty much electronic, save for the snappy live percussion. These characteristics contrast so nicely with the rasp and grit of the acoustic folk rock that’s lately been pouring through my earbuds that I don’t care how old it is; I’m just happy to be in the haze.
Red Collar
I feel Clay’s pain. My ears have been ringing steady since February 2006. And I play guitar even worse, way worse, than Clay, but I do wear earplugs. Like a religion. Tinnitus still struck. It doesn’t bother me during the day, just when I lie down at night to sleep. The remedy? MP3 player of choice. Just be sure to keep the levels down so you don’t further ruin your hearing. I just found what I’ll be falling asleep to this evening: Red Collar. These Durham, NC rockers take me back a decade or so, sounding like a solid Dischord band if Dischord were down south in Alabama. Country Fried Hardcore? Springsteen fronting Fugazi? Sacrilege? Perhaps. I’ll definitely be breaking the first aural health commandment tonight: keep it below 11. This’ll drown out the ringing nicely.
Ladyslipper
This one’s perfect after a day of my better half and I struggling to talk to each. “What did you say?” “Can you say that again?” “What was that?” “I couldn’t hear you.” We’ve finally concluded that our poor hearing has a common cause: too much rock ‘n’ roll. Years of going to shows sans ear plugs. Years of head phones and ear phones and ear buds. Years of going to sleep with the stereo on. Years of car stereos on full blast. And in my case, years ago, not being very good on the guitar and trying to compensate for it through loud feedback. So what better anthem for the toll music has taken on our hearing than Ladyslipper’s “Tinnitus?” Tinnitus is ringing or buzzing in the ears and the reason that I recently purchased a twenty pack of ear plugs. But this Minnesota’s band’s melodic, fuzz-drenched indie rock with their proud, echo-heavy shouts of “tinnitus” hopefully will serve as a reminder to all of us to use ear protection when listening to loud, catchy music from Ladyslipper.
This public service announcement has been brought to you by Ladyslipper and 3hive.
Mojib
Staffan Ulmert (aka Mojib) shares a taste in music with many of us here at 3hive. He lists Explosions in the Sky, UNKLE, Sixtoo, and The Avalanches as inspirations. Instead of blah, blah, blahgging about about these artists however, Ulmert settles down in front of his computer in Gothenburg, Sweden, and composes his own music and remixes some of his favorite artists (check out his remix of Ian Brown and his UNKLE / Notwist mashup). No new formula here: solid hip-hop beats, pop melodies, strings, pianos, and samples galore (what’s that main riff in “Break of Dawn”??? It’s driving me nuts. Sigur Rós? Radiohead?) Mojib provides plenty of teaser tracks on his website, but the litmus test, his first proper full-length (Whimsical Lifestyle) drops next month on Canada’s Non-Existent Recordings.
A.A. Bondy
A.A. Bondy’s new album, American Hearts, is easily one of my favorites of the year, and it comes just at the right time. Summer’s going to fade soon, the leaves will change and Michigan will be at its absolute most beautiful before we get buried in winter. Bondy’s sparse folk rock will make a nice soundtrack for that transition, like Springsteen’s Nebraska or Will Oldham’s Days in the Wake. The other artist that comes to mind here is Steve Earle; “Vice Rag,” my favorite of the two songs below, is essentially a lilting country version of “CCKMP,” and is as disarming as the original. Bondy makes less more on American Hearts, much to this listener’s pleasure.